SPRING 2006: Volunteers Needed For Red Hook House Tour
SPRING 2006: Volunteers Needed For Red Hook House Tour
SPRING 2006
In an effort to spare Historical Society members the heat of summer the Board has moved the traditional June
meeting date to Tuesday, May 16th. The evening promises to be most exciting for in addition to the usual sump-
tuous buffet dinner, parliamentary procedures and granting of awards, David Tripp, an internationally respect-
ed numismatic and fine arts consultant, writer and cartoonist will speak about his new book Illegal Tender
Gold, Greed, and the Mystery of the Lost 1933 Double Eagle which the New York Times described as a
“Dashiell Hammett-like chronicle of the coin – a composite of The Lord of the Rings and The Maltese Falcon”.
Briefly, the book tells the tale of a small handful of $20 gold coins minted in 1933 that escaped being melted
into gold bricks when President Franklin Delano Roosevelt took America off the gold standard in the depths
of the Great Depression. The Secret Service tracked down, seized and destroyed all but one of the coins in the
1940’s. This coin eluded government agents for almost sixty years before being retrieved at Manhattan’s Wal-
dorf Astoria. Finally after years of wrangling, the government allowed the coin to be auctioned off at Sotheby’s
in New York where it brought the highest price ever paid for a coin - $7,590,020! According to Entertainment
Weekly the tale “unspools like a Hollywood blockbuster”.
Details about the Dinner and a reservation form can be found elsewhere in this Newsletter but it should be noted
that three Board members: John Kennedy, John Vincent and Rose Rider, who have completed three years of
service, have agreed to run for office again. However, there remain two vacancies on the Board and nomina-
tions will be welcome.
Nominations are also requested for the annual Heritage Awards. Nominations may be made in one or more of
the following categories: Written or Recorded, Architectural, Artistic, and Environmental. For more information
call (845) 758-2923. Nominations must be received by Monday, May 8th. Mail to the Egbert Benson Historical
Society,
Box 397, Red Hook, NY 12571-0397.
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Volunteers Needed for Red Hook House Tour
Spend half a day in a Palatine farmhouse, a riverfront cottage or Gen. Putnam’s Revolutionary War
headquarters and earn a free ticket to visit these and other fascinating Town of Red Hook homes on Saturday,
June 10th. The annual Dutchess County Historical Society’s Silver Ribbon Tour will visit our community that
day and 60 to 80 volunteer docents are needed to welcome visitors.
Continued on page two
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The event showcases a different part of Dutchess County each year and this year is
co-sponsored by our Historical Society and the Town of Red Hook. Hundreds of visitors from
neighboring states and counties are expected to visit 15 homes, churches and public buildings
such as our own Elmendorph Inn where guests will be invited to visit the Carriage Barn Thrift
Shop and purchase books and cards in the Inn.
Volunteers will be invited to attend a gala launch party at Rokeby on May 21 st (a $25 donation
will be requested) and lectures by Wint Aldrich, Nancy Kelly and Cynthia Owen Philip. A
training program, for all volunteer docents will be held from 10:30 to noon on Saturday, May
20th at the Elmendorph Inn.
Can you identify the date of this Photo? The players are (from left to right);
John Katrulya, ----- Heck, Bud Hart, Gordon Saulpaugh, Irv Fraleigh, ----- Fingar,
Henry Redder, Marty Pulver, Raymond Smith, ----- ------, George McMurray,
Cliff Alexander.
If you know the answer, please call the Archive Room at 758-1920 and leave a message.
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Free Blacks
By Barbara Thompson